Binance founder Changpeng Zhao says in his new memoir Freedom of Money that Sam Bankman-Fried asked for tens of billions of dollars during a call for help as FTX was unraveling in November 2022. Zhao writes that he had no real interest in buying FTX from the start, and that Binance’s non-binding letter of intent was largely a procedural step taken with users and the broader industry in mind.
Ellison’s $22 statement became a turning point for FTT
Zhao points to a public post by Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison as one of the decisive moments in the crisis. She said Alameda was willing to buy all of Binance’s FTT at $22. In Zhao’s telling, that gave the market a visible floor and exposed Alameda’s hand at the worst possible time.
Traders quickly moved against FTT. The token fell from $22 to $15, then $10, and later to $5. Over roughly 72 hours, about $6 billion left FTX, according to the book, accelerating the exchange’s collapse.
Memoir reveals a private Signal group of exchange executives
The book also discloses the existence of a Signal chat called “Exchange Collaboration.” Zhao says the group was created by former FTX executive Zane Tackett during the Terra/LUNA algorithmic stablecoin collapse. Its members included Zhao, Bankman-Fried, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell.
Zhao writes that the group later drew attention from investigators at the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, who looked for signs of collusion or market manipulation between exchanges. He says they found no such conduct.
Binance later faced a $7 billion one-day withdrawal record
On November 9, 2022, Binance formally walked away from the FTX deal. Zhao says Binance’s FTT holdings were by then effectively worthless, a situation that reminded him of the $1.6 billion hit tied to the LUNA collapse.
After FTX failed, the fallout spread across the crypto market and reached Binance as well. On December 14, 2022, Binance recorded $7 billion in withdrawals in a single day. Zhao recalls that he was not worried that evening because customer assets were fully held in reserves. He also says the outflow reversed in less than a month, with users returning funds to Binance and depositing even more.
Book released on April 8 also revisits Zhao’s Taiwan visit
Freedom of Money was released globally on April 8. Alongside its account of the FTX collapse and Binance’s rise, the memoir includes Zhao’s reflections on a 2018 visit to Taiwan, where he reviewed the local regulatory environment and met people including Hsu Yu-jen.
Zhao also recalls learning during a street-side meal that he had made the cover of Forbes and had been labeled the “Crypto Overlord.” In the book, he says titles of that kind changed neither his account balance nor his daily reality, using the episode as part of a broader personal account of crypto, regulation, and the company’s growth.